UFC
Jon Jones says face to face with Dana White coming Friday, says he forgives White despite no apology
Sep 20, 2012 - 7:15:17 PM Jon Jones says face to face with Dana White coming Friday, says he forgives White despite no apology

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones and UFC President Dana White still haven't had their face to face meeting to hash out issues that arose with UFC 151's cancellation earlier this month. Jones said on Thursday at the UFC 152 pre-fight press conference in Toronto that said meeting is scheduled for Friday prior to the event's weigh-ins, the timing of which Jones finds curious.

"I don't know why we're meeting at that time because my mental state won't be as clear being extremely dehydrated and hungry, but that's when our meeting is scheduled," Jones said (transcribed by MMAJunkie.com).

Though he's not sure why the meeting is taking place when it is, he has an idea of what he's going to say. Though he said he hasn't gotten an apology from White for throwing him under the bus regarding the cancellation of UFC 151, he's already moved past it, and he wants to move forward with the UFC.

"I'm just gonna tell him I forgive him, pretty much," Jones said in an interview with Ariel Helwani at MMAFighting.com earlier this week (transcribed by BloodyElbow.com). "I have a general intention of what I want to happen and basically it's going to be based around forgiveness. I'm not expecting him to apologize but I'm moving forward. I'm moving forward. Dana spoke his mind and ultimately he can't take back what happened and I can't take back what happened. I don't think he wants to and I don't want to."

"We're just going to be me and keep this great journey that we have going. We're both ambassadors for the UFC. Us not being on the same page, like I said on Sportscenter, it makes no sense for us MMA fans and MMA nation. I want to do great things and I think having him on my side, and not being known to him as a troublemaker to him will be beneficial for both of us."

He expanded on his thoughts on moving on during Thursday's press conference, but he reiterated his previous stance on UFC 151 that fighters and fans should be asking White some harder questions about that event's cancellation.

"I watch bar fights. I love fights, no matter what level it is. So I think it was more of an insult to the other fighters on the card that, pretty much, it was almost like saying they weren't good enough to host the card without me and Dan Henderson," Jones said. "They should be mad at the superiors, not at me. Some real questions need to be asked of Dana about why the event got canceled."

"[But] I believe that this whole situation is going to bring me and the UFC even closer. I think we're going to have a better level of respect for each other. I think it's going to be healthy for fighters in the future to know their rights, and a lot of positives are going to happen with this. I really believe the fans are going to get over it."

Penick's Analysis: That is definitely a curious time to have the face to face meeting, and I'm not sure what White hopes to accomplish by having this discussion in the midst of Jones' weight cut. Regardless, they'll have their conversation, hopefully put things behind them, then move on and get past the entire UFC 151 situation. People will move past it, I don't know that everyone will entirely "get over it," and it's certainly not something that will be forgotten, especially by those who were directly affected by the cancellation. Still, Jones has to simply perform on Saturday night. If he can defeat Vitor Belfort in spectacular fashion, all of this will be a distant memory in quick order, at least for most people. And for many of them, the sooner this gets past everyone, the better off we'll all be.

[Jon Jones art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]